What's in a Name?

I have noticed this quirk of Kpop for a while now, but recently it seems to be happening more and more- the release of songs by different artists with exactly the same name. I realize that just because two songs have the same name, it doesn’t mean that they’re not two totally different songs, but why use the same name? One would think an artist would want to differentiate their song from any other by having a unique name for their song, yet that doesn’t seem to be the case in Kpop. We all adore love songs, but how many “Love Songs” do we really need?

So, what’s the big deal if songs have the same name? Well to begin with, we should look into what the significance of a name is.

The purpose of a name is to distinguish an entity, which in this case we’re talking about songs, from one another. So, why this influx of same named songs? In most cases, song names are taken from the hook or chorus of the song, but it is not the rule. It is the norm for naming a song because it instantly makes the song identifiable- the chorus of the song is the part that is repeated and what people remember the most about a song. This naming convention of songs was important in the past, so that when someone heard a new song on the radio that they liked and didn’t know, they could pretty much figure out what the name of it was. But, in this day and age of the internet, radio stations have their playlists on their websites and even more so radio has lost much of its significance with the increasing popularity of digital downloads and the influence of the iPod. There are also all kinds of nifty services or apps that can tell you the name of that song you love,but didn’t know the name of, or that song stuck in your head; here’s five of the most popular: midomi, Musipedia, Tunatic, Shazam, and NameMyTune. Naming songs from their hooks or chorus is no longer a necessity, so artists should use this new found opportunity to be creative in their song titles. From a purely marketing standpoint, differentiating your product (in this case a song) from your competitors’ is the number one priority, so why would you want your product to have the same name?

The list- I know there’s much more out there, but this is what I came up with:

When the songs are released years apart it’s not such a big deal, but when the songs are the big comebacks for the artist(s) and they are released only months apart ie. Big Bang and Jay Park’s Tonight or Big Bang and 2PM’s Hands Up? I find that very weird. It could be that it was too late for the second group to change the name of their song, but if I were their producer I would’ve changed the name of the song immediately. Also conspicuous is having the same name as a song that was a huge hit, for example “Lies” by Big Bang. “Lies” was the song that ensconced Big Bang in Kpop history, it’s one of those songs that will be a classic and will always be talked about when speaking of Kpop, so why would anyone else want to release a song called “Lies?” Kpop is a relatively small music market, globally speaking, so it’s not like the industry is saturated with so many songs that having similarly named songs can’t be helped. I was surprised that YG Entertainment seemed to be the most frequent offender of the Big 3 (SM Entertainment, JYP Entertainment, YG Entertainment) in the same name game. Although I would have to say that SM Entertainment is the offender of having the most unique names, sometimes too much so like “Bonamana,” “LA chA TA,” and “Nu ABO.”

The reasons for Kpop artists not really caring about releasing songs with the same name could be many. Culturally, having the same name might not be that big of a difference to Koreans with almost half (46%) of in the population having the family name of Kim, 21.6% named Lee, and 14.8% being named Park (although this point seems unlikely due to the fact the many stars will change their stage name so as not to have the same name as another and the interest in having unique group names for idols is sometimes too far fetched ie. MBLAQ, B2ST, FinKL, F.Cuz, and B1A4). Another reason could lie in the globalization of Kpop and their common use of English in the hook which makes the song and its name recognizable to English speaking audiences. Or it could simply be that the name given was just the name that they thought best fit the song.

Am I making too much out of a name? Was Shakespeare right when in Romeo and Juliet he wrote, “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” Does what matter is what something is, not what it is called? I personally agree more with this saying,”Words have meaning and names have power” – Annonymous.

HUh? so now it is an offence to have the same name/title for songs? WOW … what’s next? anywayz, i believe each song has its own merit … but of course, which one is remembered by most people in general when the title is mentioned depends on the quality of the song itself.

Katherine

I understand where your coming from since I’m a Big Bang and Jay Park fan I found it quite funny at first that they both came-back with songs titled TONIGHT and then a week later I discovered DBSK also had a song called TONIGHT – Although I love all 3 songs and each have different meanings BUT it is weird to me.

Leo

Hmm I really don’t mind songs with the same titles unless they’re released really close to each other and are title tracks. And Bonamana isn’t a weird title, it’s normal Korean :/

Lordy

I would agree with you if the results for Korean titled songs came out with the same repetitiveness.

Koreans probably don’t care about English named songs and easily forget it after the artists finishes their song promotion cycle.
Notice the simplicity of the words and most are only one word long – those are the only words the know!

nn

whenever people mention Lies, BIGBANG automatically pops up in my head lol

chi

it’s the limited english vocabulary they have

haha

haha!

cheerios

word.

kc

does it matter? I mean there are only so many words out there that you should use in a song, should we just start numbering them so no one copies each other’s song titles?

you missed Epik high’s “love love love” by the way

jyyjc

epik high also has a love love love, and there’s many more please don’t go’s.

Mimichan

Meh, it doesn’t matter to me. They don’t sound at all the same anyways. They all have their own spin to their songs despite having the same titles.

danny

maybe you should check the actual korean titles for some of the songs. they are translated differently into english. for example, rain’s love song is literally translated into the song that will hold you back.

kassidy

THIS!

Willow

Yup, good point. Sometimes the translation sounds awkward so it’s much easier to revert to something more familiar and easier on the ears.

Willow

This may be off-topic but I notice that even in K-dramas, they seem to like “copying” titles of American/Western films and/or TV series as well. As in “Secret Garden,” (well technically this is a book that was adapted to a movie) “Lie to Me,” “Miss Ripley” (as in, The Talented Mr. Ripley with Matt Damon and Jude Law), and the list goes on. So I dunno, maybe it’s just their thing. K-pop songs after all are known for being repetitive. Maybe they’re hoping the familiar name would increase the song’s chances of catching on?

png

Some of the names of the songs are the same but only due to translation.

Mighty Mouth’s song is named “Lalala” only in Korean, it’s other name is “Fiesta”.

T-ara’s “Lies” is not referred to as “Lies” but as “거짓말” usually.

Butterbacon

From the examples you’ve given, YG isn’t the worst offender. They’re the ones that have been imitated for the most part.

yanhee

and this i agree with. like how, gd had hello and breathe then other grps come along and use the same title.

lay

YUp … funny how some people are so quick to point their fingers at YG.

yanhee

SO.. i wasnt the only one perplexed with the same song titles and kpop. esp when one song is clearly way better than the other. i would’ve provide examples to the aforementioned statement but that wld ignite the flames for a fanwar which honestly im not game for.

good article, btw.

o3o

HEY HEY HEY “love love love” was also a song by epik high way back idk~
but english names to korean songs aren’t really all that reliable because its usually the repeated English phrase. Most of the other less popular song names aren’t even in English.
Thus, having a English identification is already good enough for me, and other international fans.

I feel song context matters more. Besides their english aint all that good.

L

So what was the point of this article? to point out how songs can have the same title? …okay…also, why use the word “offender”, it’s not illegal or anything.

There also are songs called “Angel” by Super Junior, Teen Top and Se7en and “Girlfriend” by Jay Park, Teen Top, Se7en, Wonder Girls and Myname

Joline

I always figured people gave their songs similar names because they wanted accendental attention. Like one time I wanted to listen to nilili mambo and I was linked to a Korean TROT song named nilili mambo.[i can’t find it anymore :( I liked the song] That song probably got named after the Block B so people who were looking for Block b would click on that instead.

Or if you hear a song on the radio and don’t know who it’s be but like it, you could type in the hook and you would get 2 or 3 songs that all used the same word and you’d have to listen to them all to find what you want.